Vehicles, including off-highway vehicles, may be used for high-production mining, heavy-duty construction applications, and the like. These vehicles benefit from side-mirrors. Side mirror assembly arrangements in vehicles, such as off-highway vehicles, typically provide views of a surrounding area for the operator, and operator visibility is of paramount importance. Due to the extreme physical dimensions of the vehicle, such as a body or bed of the vehicle on some off-highway vehicle applications, mirror placement needs to extend significantly outward of the vehicle centerline for ideal visibility. One problem that this extreme extension creates is an effect on the overall machine or vehicle width dimensions, for transportation clearance and even operation in some environments. For example, the manufacture, assembly, and transport of these vehicles may not occur all in one place. Major components are manufactured and assembled at multiple facilities then shipped to the customer site for final assembly. Another problem that the extreme extension of mirror placement creates is an effect on when an off-highway vehicle must be moved from one job site to another for any reason and the vehicle cannot simply be driven on public roads due to its exceptional size and weight. Moving an off-highway vehicle requires dis-assembly, loading on to semi-trailer trucks, transport and re-assembly at the new location. Additionally, some environments such as mining operations, require vehicles to operate with limited clearances. In other environments, clearance is not nearly as critical. Vehicle mirrors need to operate in any environment to provide the best possible view.
Importantly, use of a mirror assembly that cannot extend significantly outward of the vehicle centerline is not tenable because operator visibility is of paramount importance and these machines and vehicle components extend in all dimensions. For example, vehicle beds may extend 20-30 feet in width. Those in the industry know that visibility is a constant battle and any lesser mirror configuration may lend itself to hampered operator visibility.
Another problem is that in the industry, construction and operation of an off-highway vehicle needs to take into account varying operator size as a factor. Ergonomics is important for optimal and safe use of the vehicle. Adjustability of side-mirrors for a wide range of operator sizes is needed. The off-highway vehicle needs to be able to accommodate a range of a 50% female to the 99% male size. Depending on operator size, visibility again becomes a constant battle and multiple points of interference in visibility can occur. Many mirrors lack the adjustability and flexibility of extending past the centerline.
Side-view mirrors that extend outward a couple meters without the ability to fold back towards the cab during shipment or use in a tight clearance width environments is a problem. This affects the overall machine width dimensions, for transportation clearance and even operation. Current systems and vehicles with side or rear-view mirror mounts have used detent-configured swing mechanisms to improve adjustability, flexibility, and visibility—but due to vibration, cost, poor operation, and/or weight, they have not been viable for the systems discussed prior. Many devices and techniques for adjustably mounting safety mirrors to vehicles have been developed that fail to address the above noted problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,781, entitled “Quick release vehicle mirror”, discusses the use of a mirror assembly for a vehicle that is securable to a tubular member with a pivotable central axis that includes a clamping assembly, a housing that is coupled to the clamping assembly to support a mirror, and a latching assembly that engages the clamping assembly and the housing and is movable between a latched position and an unlatched position. However the latched and unlatched positions do not include structure allowing for the mirror to be adjustable along a cab nor can accommodate various transport positions.
Many of these and other shortcomings of the prior art are addressed by the various aspects in the present disclosure.